With U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arriving in Beijing on Tuesday for high-stakes trade talks with China,... an agreement may be reached in the coming weeks.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
U.S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is in Beijing for the 10th round of high-level negotiations,... as the two economic powerhouses look for ways to end their trade war.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who arrived earlier remains optimistic, saying he hopes to make "substantial progress" with Chinese negotiators in the next two rounds of trade talks, with their Chinese counterpart Vice Premier Liu He.
China, also showed optimism that an agreement would be reached.
"What I want to say is substantive progress had been made on trade talks. In accordance with consensus reached by our leaders, both China and U.S. will work together and meet each other half way to reach a win-win agreement based on mutual respect as early as possible."
According to the White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on Tuesday,... talks between the two countries aimed at resolving their trade dispute will likely be resolved "one way or the other" in the next two weeks.
However, Mulvaney says it doesn't necessarily mean the negotiations will end with an agreement,... instead indicating the talks could end in a deadlock once again.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, citing officials briefed on the talks,... the punitive tariffs the two governments slapped on each country's goods in the conflict remain a major obstacle.
It added that the biggest issue is how much of the tariffs will be removed,.. as the U.S. wants to leave some in place as a tool to enforce the agreement.
Aside from the tariffs and enforcement,... the U.S. negotiators are looking for solutions in other areas,... which include persuading China to provide greater access to China's cloud computing and agricultural markets.
Beijing, meanwhile, may be seeking all U.S. tariffs to be lifted before any further discussions take place,... suggesting the negotiations are far from over.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.